(Cycling Tips) Questions about group rides and training

I love those glasses. Where can I get them?

Do you think that 8 intervall sessions per week is too much? About 2 days a
week I do 2 sessions in 1 day, morning and evening. Of course, I never to 2
super high intensity workouts in 1 day. Like today I din 30×40/20s (3 sets
of 10) and then during the evening I did 3×10 min at or just below
threshold. I feel like I recover super fast and my legs are never sore. I’m
19 so that might explain that lol. I just wanna reach my maximum potential
to see if I have what it takes to go pro. I have nothing to loose. My
philosophy is this: whatever you do, your body will adapt to it. So doing 8
intervall sessions per week should work.

I agree with the rider, everything he said is on point.

Have fun riding your bicycle. Its a toy, its not a depressing job, even
when you’re working hard and sweating. Toys are designed to inspire
happiness and creativity so make sure you’re doing it for the right
reasons. Push yourself. Sometimes as we get too comfortable and another
word for “comfort” is the “Plateau Effect”. To break past that threshold,
even a little bit, you have to work hard until you get tired. Some of us
work hard at something for a few years then give up because working to
break threshold becomes extremely painful. I.g. someone who spent their
whole life in the lifting weights, the 10 LB they lifted on their first day
was not as bone shattering as the 500LB they are powerlifting 20 years
later in a local competition. And since so few of us strive to be
powerlifters, the “Plateau Effect” is very common and that’s where “burning
out” comes in so often. It gets boring and less comfortable because our
muscles are maintaining power rather than building to make it stronger. As
you get stronger, it becomes easier to maintain your previous “threshhold”,
thus, it becomes a reward ladder to our bodies, by working harder it
becomes easier to “maintain” the recent averages (Stamina), making rides
more effortless, going faster for longer, while being more efficient
(endurance + stamina). This is why group rides are great. Many skills and
techniques can be learned from inside a group. You can (and should) study
these techniques before participating with a faster group ride, by watching
them on YouTube. Its actually the best way to introduce yourself to group
riding. Search for “GoPro” videos and try to figure out the logic behind
the madness. Why do some expert riders behave the way they do? Once you
figure that stuff out you will be able to go into your first group ride
with an “expert” mindset, obviously there needs to be a functional
connection between your brain and body to get it down on the first try.
Athletes will have the easiest time with this method.
Skills and technique that can be learned inside the groups: bike control,
cadence efficiency, pacing and surging, establishing breakaways, physical
contact with other riders, AND SO MUCH MORE. Its a pull of endless
knowledge and the cool part is that you can apply EVERYTHING you learned
from the group rides to your daily bike riding. Oh, a car is about to cut
you off? No problem, you’ve dealt with similar situations many times while
pacing with 10 other riders at 25mph. You learned how to stay calm and be
technical and PROACTIVE while being swarmed by 10 other riders. So an
obvious bad car driver isn’t going to ruin your day. Skill save’s lives,
not luck. There’s a vast pool of knowledge and skill/talent level in other
riders that you’ll likely encounter if you participate in the rides. Look
at it as you rewarding yourself by learning from the best riders because,
eventually, you’ll to say to yourself “wow Rider Z is so much faster than
Rider X but Rider X is SO MUCH faster than me”. Learn from those guys and
you will be as good as they are, with respect to obvious limitations. Oh,
and this applies to anything in life, too. Just my humble 2 cents.
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